The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
A WLAN may include one or more basic service sets (BSSs). Each of the BSSs includes an access point (AP) and a group of stations (STAs). The STAs can communicate with each other via the AP or directly with each other by establishing a TDLS link. A TDLS link setup process is performed to establish the TDLS link. A TDLS link setup includes transmission of signaling frames that are encapsulated in data frames, such that the signaling frames can be transmitted between stations via an access point.
The TDLS link setup process can include, for example, a first station STA1 transmitting a setup request signal to a second station STA2 via an AP. The setup request signal can include, for example, a link identifier and an association request frame body. The link identifier includes source and destination addresses and a BSS identifier. The association request frame body is provided to request setup of the TDLS link. The AP forwards the setup request signal received from the first station STA1 to the second station STA2.
The second station STA2 then transmits a setup response signal to the first station STA1 via the AP. The first station STA1 transmits an acknowledgement signal (ACK) to the AP to acknowledge receipt of the setup response signal. The first station STA1 then transmits a setup confirmation signal to the second station STA2. The second station STA2 can then transmit an ACK signal to the first station STA1 to acknowledge receipt of the setup confirmation signal and to complete setup of the TDLS link. The stations STA1, STA2 can communicate directly with each other upon completing setup of the TDLS link.